Introduction

About 30 years ago, an Australian investment company called Macquarie figured out how to turn public utilities into lucrative assets. This strategy helped catapult the company into the biggest infrastructure investor in the world. Now, its services range from delivering tap water to London to transporting gas across the United States. But recently it has emerged that one of Macquarie’s former assets, Thames Water, is struggling, and the utility’s consumers are feeling the consequences. We sit down with the FT’s infrastructure correspondent Gill Plimmer to discuss what we can learn from Thames Water’s troubles and what happens when private investments meet a public necessity. 

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For further reading:

Managed by Macquarie: the Australian group with a grip on global infrastructure

The dangers of asset managers when it comes to long-term infrastructure

How the Thames Water-gate burst

Thames Water travails threaten to plunge privatised sector into crisis

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On Twitter, follow Gill Plimmer (@gillplimmer1) and Topher Forhecz (@ForheczT)

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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